DIGHTON — After a full day of interviews on Saturday, the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School Committee named Anthony Azar as its next superintenden on an 8-2 vote.

Azar, a Rehoboth resident and New Bedford school administrator for curriculum and development, beat out two other finalists for the post.

Kyle Riley, Dighton-Rehoboth's special education director, and Janice Rotella, the director of curriculum development in Wareham, were the other two finalists. Rotella is also a finalist in the Freetown-Lakeville school superintendent search.

"It's the end of about a year of searching," said an Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School committee chairman Raymond Medeiros on Saturday evening.

Medeiros said interviews began at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and ended at 2 p.m. Proceedings culminated at around 4:30 p.m. with the naming of Azar as the next superintendent.

Medeiros said a salary has not been negotiated yet and he could not disclose a salary range at this time. Hw said a salary figure should be settled on after Tuesday's school committee meeting. Medeiros said that Azar has indicated that he might be able to start before June 30 and indicated that his current superintendent would not take issue with an early departure.

Medeiros, who voted for Azar, said Azar seemed to have many of the qualities that committee members and Dighton-Rehoboth staff have been looking for in a superintendent — sound leadership and experience in all facets of education.

"We talked for a long time about the qualities we are looking for and enumerated on a number of them — leadership, experience as an educator and the fact that he has been in education for a long time."

Azar's career spans more than three decades. He started off as a teacher in Rhode Island before becoming a principal and later an administrator of curriculum and development.

Medeiros stressed that Dighton-Rehoboth staff favor a superintendent who will remain in place for several years.

"They all said, 'what our district needs is consistent leadership,' and that is what we are looking for with Dr. Azar."

In recent years, the district has had high turnover in the position.

Former Superintendent Kathy Montagano retired in 2011, having served the district since 2008.

After Montagano, Jennifer Wordell served as an interim from 2011-12. Instead of replacing Wordell with a more permanent candidate, the district named current interim superintendent Michael Malone, who also served as an interim superintendent in Middleboro from 2010 to 2012. In July, he agreed to a one-year contract for $130,000, which would be prorated if the school system hires a permanent superintendent or he leaves prior to the end of the deal, according to Gazette reports.